WEIRD SCIENCE: Man claims to “feed” off electricity and gobbles down juice from live wires when he’s hungry

Forty-two-year-old Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, northern India resident Naresh Kumar, who has been nicknamed the “human light bulb”, claims he can feed off electricity and nibble on wires without getting electrocuted.

Kumar even goes so far as to say that instead of eating food, he gets his sustenance from electricity. Whenever he gets hungry, all he has to do is hold onto a live wire for 30 minutes, after which he is no longer hungry.

“Whenever I feel hungry and there’s no food in the house I hold naked wires and within half an hour I’m satisfied. I eat electricity like it’s food. In fact, it helps my energy levels,” Kumar said.

People in his village know all about his ability. They have seen him allowing electrical current to flow through his mouth to light a bulb; as such, he was given that unique moniker. (Related: The Amazing Light Bulb.)

In an interview with Cover Asia Press, Kumar said, “I can touch any electrical appliance like a television, washing machine, fridge, and an inverter with my bare hands and it doesn’t affect me.”

However, Kumar’s wife, who is opposed to his electrical activities, said, “There are no switches, and sometimes my children and I fear we’ll get an electric shock. But because he’s obsessed with touching naked wires they are left like this. He even uses his bare hands to switch different appliances on and off.”

Electricity is said to have different effects on human beings, depending on current pathway, duration, and voltage. This is why doctors have time and again attested to witnessing people who survived being hit by a bolt of lightning if the current did not exit the body via the heart.

Spate of electrocutions in India

For instance, 26-year-old national-level bodybuilder Love Kumar was on the terrace at his home in north-west Delhi’s Kirari on Sunday, August 13 when he accidentally touched a live wire. Paramedics tried to resuscitate Kumar but he died during the process.

Love Kumar’s family said he was scheduled to be married in October this year. They blamed the utility companyTata Power Delhi Distribution Limited for alleged negligence, with Love Kumar’s brother Inder Verma saying, “The wires are very close to our buildings. This could have happened with anyone.”

Earlier that week, 22-year-old national-level wrestler Vishal Kumar perished when he was electrocuted while pumping out water that had accumulated inside the Jaipal Singh Stadium in Ranchi.